Interlock
by ThePurpleRose
Summary: When pharmaceutical company CEO and below the knee amputee Guren's estranged sister commits suicide, he finds himself guardian of a twelve year old boy. Shinya sells two parenting books to a dark haired man. And Yu leaves behind his friend Mika, who had promised would be his true family someday, to start a new life with the uncle he never knew he had.
1. Books and Mysteries

**AN: I wanted to write a bookshop AU. LittleSparrow/lloydthedeciver told me I should create an Owari no Seraph AU with Shinya and Guren in which Guren has a prosthetic limb. Yu and Mika obviously had to be added to the mix, and so did everybody else. And so this was born.**

 **Guren's experiences regarding his missing leg are taken from the experience of one below the knee amputee - and may not be 100% accurate to everyone. Shinya, however, knows very little about Guren's situation and so his opinions are likely be wrong.**

 **Everyone has a role in this story and will show up sooner or later.**

 **I hope you enjoy reading ^_^**

* * *

Shinya was rearranging the display in his shop window when the bell over the door rang. It was a stormy Tuesday afternoon. He'd served maybe two or three customers in the past hour – the last half an hour earlier. On slow days like these, every rare occasion that the bell rang, he found it harder not to drop what he was doing to spy on whoever had entered.

One of the best parts of running a bookshop was the people. His brothers regularly joked about when he was going to enter a respectable career path or at least make the bookshop a successful business but that wasn't what Shinya was in this for. In his line of work, stories were everywhere you looked from the books on the shelves to the people perusing them. He liked to observe the customers as they came in, guess the section they would gravitate towards, consider what might catch their eye. He felt he could build a good picture of a person by what they handed him over the counter and the way in which they did it.

The man who had just entered for example brushed at the hail-stricken shoulders of his coat as he wiped his feet. He stood tall, shoulders back, moved from the mat with a measured stride. A military man perhaps? Policeman? A background in which good posture was taught at the very least.

His dark hair was damp and bedraggled, probably not a good feature to judge by. His nose, as he brushed away the strands that clung to his forehead, was dusted pink by the cold. Shinya watched purple eyes scan the shelves.

It was a tough one, this case. If he was browsing for himself, Shinya would have guessed something action based, perhaps historical. Men who seemed military normally went for things like that. But something told him that this time, it wouldn't be the case. Or perhaps that was wishful thinking.

Either way, this customer had piqued his interest on an otherwise dull day. He quickly finished adjusting the position of the Complete Illustrated Works of Shakespeare in the window and returned to the counter, where he would have a better view of the unfolding mystery.

Now that he was closer, he could build a clearer picture of the man with purple eyes. Based on his face and stature, Shinya would estimate the man in his early to mid-twenties. The shadows beneath his eyes told him that the man was perhaps having difficulty sleeping – working too hard? The man blinked up at the Scientific Reference section and shook his head, his handsome face falling into a frown. Working too hard.

As the stranger hastily moved on, Shinya noticed a misstep. Perhaps an injury? Sport or work related? Either way, probably old. Now that he looked more closely, the man's left leg moved stiffly. Whatever it was, it was still healing. Perhaps that was what he was looking for, something medical? Physiotherapy exercises?

He stopped at the Parenting section. Of course. Somebody with that face would almost definitely have a partner. It was an incredible oversight to not factor in that a lot of people their age were now starting to settle down, get hitched, have babies (planned or otherwise). Shinya supposed overlooking those things was a hazard that came with being the gay relation of the Hiragi family.

Regardless, all the signs were there – circles under the eyes, being able to visit the bookshop at 4:45pm on a Tuesday, being a stereotypically attractive man at what his sister often called 'the perfect marriageable age'. The mystery was solved and Shinya's disappointment at the loss of the man as his mystery was great enough to hold back a sigh.

Shinya and the customer deflated simultaneously. Shinya lifted his eyes from the counter just in time to watch the man rub at his temples. Poor guy. His mind was probably addled from lack of sleep and the weight of responsibility that came with a newborn child. Shinya took pity on him.

Moving around from his counter, carrying a couple of books to be placed on the shelves, he said, 'Need any help?'

The guy jumped. It obviously had not been a good day for him. 'Oh… Just looking for something-' he made a vague gesture with his hands ' –you know.'

Interesting, perhaps this man didn't want to admit he needed help caring for his child. Shinya pressed a little harder. 'New parent?'

Shinya stood next to him now, books held under one arm, the other hand tracing spines along the shelf in the air as he searched for the right place to put them. He and the customer were around the same height. He watched with a smile as the stranger's face formed an awkward frown. Purple eyes met his properly for the first time. Up close, Shinya could see why he was spoken for. That sharp shade of purple belonged in a novel.

'Yeah, something like that,' he answered with a shrug of the shoulders.

Shinya raised his eyebrows.

The man's gaze drifted back to the bookcase. The glare of bright colours that screamed 'child related' made his skin seem paler than it had earlier. Another frown flickered across his face. Shinya almost thought he wouldn't answer, but then he spoke.

'My sister's kid… hasn't got anywhere else to go, so I…' He looked up, his eyes meeting Shinya's as though they wondered why he'd told him all that. With another light lift of the shoulders, he added, 'He's twelve.'

Something in those eyes seemed to pin Shinya and for a moment, he felt at a loss for what to say. It flashed in front of him like a half-remembered book – the family tragedy, the tortured child suddenly left with an uncle, having to grieve for their mother/sister together.

He remembered his job. This was not fiction. This was a stranger in a bookshop looking for help handling a twelve year old boy.

 _Well at least he'll be skipping the terrible two's._ Shinya would have hit himself if he'd spoken that thought out loud to this total stranger.

'Well, if you're looking for more general things to do with his age group, there's this or this.'

Balancing books on his hip, he plucked a couple of books from the top shelf, handing them to the customer for his appraisal. That done, he moved around him, gesturing to be followed two bookcases down to the section marked 'Therapy'.

'Otherwise, for more specific issues with a kid in his situation, you might find something useful on the second shelf down?'

The man flipped over the books in his hands, quickly skimming blurbs while Shinya waited patiently. The tension in his shoulders had drawn them upwards. Whatever the situation was, it was likely tough on him – at the very least, he wasn't comfortable seeking complex or tailored assistance with it.

'These seem good,' he said, then louder, 'I'll take these.

Shinya smiled, took the offered books back into his hands and said, 'If you'd like to come this way,' as he led the man back to the counter, where he could scan the items in.

He ran on autopilot, reeling off the price as he did many times a day, every day, looking up from the till to the man who took cash from his wallet expectantly. Something about this eyes still interested him, gave him reason to pause as he reached for the button to open the till. They seemed somehow lighter than they had when their eyes had first met. It occurred to Shinya that he didn't even know the man's name. It seemed suddenly important that he should do.

'We do a loyalty card, if you're interested. Each item purchased earns a set amount of points and points can be exchanged for books or stationary. You can also opt to receive our monthly newsletter, which contains information on events held here and special offers we might have.'

Finishing his piece, Shinya found himself looking at an expression he would not have expected to see on the man who had entered the shop just a few minutes ago. The corners of the stranger's lips had quirked upwards into a loose smirk, one eyebrow raised.

Almost lazily, he said, 'Do they pay you extra to sell that crap?'

Shinya was taken aback. He hadn't expected this from the serious looking stranger but somehow, it was refreshing. Shinya found himself fighting hard to not laugh. He maintained his professional façade, the only difference to demeanour being the alteration of his smile to a smirk. 'I'm not selling it; it's free, and I'm the owner of this shop.'

Shinya wasn't sure what he had expected. Perhaps to shock the man, perhaps a hurried apology, perhaps a return of the awkward look he'd been given earlier? He got none of that. For a brief moment, the man's eyes widened. Then his eyebrows rose and he nodded. And then, he clearly lost the internal battle he was having as he bit his lip.

He threw back his head and laughed. Shinya stood in disbelief. Something about the stranger's laughter made him want to join in, made him feel less like a stranger but somehow more of one. More than ever, Shinya wanted to know his name.

'Hey, it's a good deal,' he said with a smile that was softer than it should have been.

'Right, right,' the man replied with a wave of his hand as he continued to chuckle.

'Especially if you have a twelve year old living with you. Kids need reading material, you know? Wouldn't want his education to suffer now, would you?' Shinya pressed with a wink.

Something about the situation made Shinya feel giddy. He blamed the man's infectious laughter, and leaned on the counter.

'Alright, fine,' the man answered, the laughter gone but in its place a grin that held all the sentiment the laughing had.

An old teacher of Shinya's had told him once that a smile really could brighten a room. Shinya maintained the view that this was nothing more than a cliché in writing, but couldn't deny that this smile had certainly brightened his afternoon.

'I'll sign up,' the man continued. 'What do I have to do?'

Those purple eyes met his again, this time amused, contented. Shinya did not bother with his usual spiel about how it would only take a minute. The longer it took, the better it felt his afternoon would get. Instead he slid the form across the counter with a pen.

'Fill in your name, email and current address – and then tick the boxes at the bottom.'

The man picked up the pen in his right hand and began to fill out the form. Shinya restrained himself and chose to slip the purchases into a carrier bag rather than watch the stranger's name appear on the page.

'Do you do this to every customer you get or am I just lucky?'

The man's voice surprised him. Turning back to the counter, Shinya saw that he was nearing the bottom of the form and still doing that smirk that seemed from their short encounter to be his resting smile.

'I certainly try,' Shinya replied, his own professional smile becoming something more teasing. 'Although most of them don't refer to it as 'crap' or burst into laughter when I ask them about it.'

The man snickered and ticked the box to receive the newsletter. Shinya felt a victory had been won.

'Here you go.' The form was slid back across the counter.

Shinya left it where it was,

'Which colour do you want your card to be?'

'Surprise me.'

Looking at stacks of cards beneath the counter, he almost selected purple, but paused at the last moment and chose the pale blue and white tiger design. Holding it out to the stranger, he asked, 'Is this alright?'

The man nodded, 'Just fine.'

Shinya keyed the code on the card into the system, wondering whether the man would make more small talk. He didn't. Shinya noticed him shifting from one foot to the other. Perhaps he had somewhere to be?

'There,' Shinya said and handed the card over. 'You have 20 points.'

The man slipped it into his wallet. 'In normal terms?'

'Just a few you pages of a book, I'm afraid. I guess you'll have to come back and spend more to make it a whole one,' Shinya said as he held the handle of the carrier bag out for the stranger to grab.

The man laughed, his hand brushing Shinya's as he took the bag. He didn't seem to notice the contact. 'Yeah? I guess I will. Later then.'

With that he spun on his heel and moved away.

Shinya's voice followed him: 'Have a nice day.'

Shinya watched him go, noting an increase to the stiffness of his leg, his straightened shoulders, the way his hand lingered on the door handle. He wondered if he would see the man again, add more to his picture of the stranger's life. His eyes dropped to the form by his elbow.

'Hey.'

The man's voice was unexpected. Shinya's gaze snapped to the door. The man stood with his hand still pressed to the door handle, looking over his shoulder at the bookseller.

'Hm?' Shinya replied with his working smile.

'Your name. I didn't ask for it.' Blunt, to the point.

'It's Shinya.'

The man nodded, smiled a smile that turned into a smirk, 'Well, thanks, Shinya.'

And with that, he pulled open the door and was swallowed by the haze of rain. Shinya found himself smiling as he picked up the man's form.

'Guren Ichinose, huh?'

He pulled up the loyalty card system and prepared to enter the information. Guren Ichinose. Shinya couldn't help but think that future shifts would be much more interesting if the man did come back. He was surprised to find that a distant part of him believed it was inevitable. He shook his head. How funny; that would be thinking like a story book.

Still, he supposed, time would tell.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed ^_^**

 **The next chapter is already in the works and will be told from Guren's perspective. Introducing Yu...**

 **Comments and criticism are always greatly appreciated.**  
 **Thanks for reading! :)**


	2. Guren and Yuichiro

**AN:** Please bear with this chapter. It's long enough to be two chapters and I almost scrapped it and went straight to next chapter, which is Yu's chapter, because I had to write 1500 words in order to be able to write Yu into this chapter anyway. But I promised some Guren, so here is some Guren.

I'm not hugely confident in this chapter - it is a little bit fillery and slow, but it does contain some important events for later. So I hope you'll stick with it. ^_^

(I think I could really use a beta reader but I will do my best in the future C: )

Guren and Yu may be acting a little bit out of character in this chapter - I am aware of it. It is due to certain events that will be later revealed (in Yu's case, next chapter).

Warning: Guren is still Guren. There is swearing in this chapter. It is exclusively Guren.

* * *

Sayuri was being way too nice today. It started when she had correctly predicted that Guren would be late, blocked him in his driveway with her Land Rover Discovery and asked if he wouldn't mind hurrying up because they she would like to be as early as possible this morning.

Being driven to work by an employee was strange but not unheard of. His secretaries and friends knew too well that Guren often viewed meeting times as guidelines, especially when he disliked the topic or people involved. Granted, it was normally Shigure who opted to personally escort him to these events on time, but Sayuri having come wasn't too strange.

What was strange was that on arriving at his office, there was no important meeting that morning which he would have put off. In fact, when Sayuri handed him his daily schedule, it was abnormally bare. Stranger still, Sayuri herself kept popping into his office unnecessarily. She took his hole punch and brought it back, even though she had her own damn hole punch on her desk. She brought him paperwork only to return to remove it without Guren even looking at it. She kept asking if he wanted coffee. He didn't but she kept it coming anyway. He had to leave the office twice that morning just to take a piss.

To top it all off, she delivered lunch to him at his desk – curry no less – and then sat down to eat with him in spite of her lunch break having supposedly been an hour earlier than his. Something was up. And Guren ate through half his curry casting her suspicious glances before he could stand it no longer.

'What is it?'

She looked up from her curry, startled. 'I'm sorry?'

'You brought me lunch. What did you do?'

She looked away. Guren prepared himself for the incoming headache of somebody else's fuck up. Somebody else because Sayuri was not prone to fuck ups. Sayuri was efficient, polite, kind – far too kind, which usually led to her being chosen as the person to break the news of whatever momentous mistake had happened this time. Considering the effort she'd put in, Guren's money was on Goshi. Goshi wasn't above bribery and while he constructed elaborate and entertaining stories explaining why something wasn't his fault, he'd obviously picked this skill up through years of having to use it.

'N-nothing,' Sayuri answered, mixing curry and rice with the tip of her fork. 'I just thought that… you know, since Yuichiro is coming today you might want a nice, peace-'

The rest of her sentence was drowned out with name Yuichiro. Of course, the kid was coming today. Had he forgotten? Of course he hadn't. He couldn't have forgotten even if he hadn't spent the past two weeks getting through those damned parenting books whenever his literal waste of space leg woke him up in the night. It was right there on the calendar Shigure had forcibly placed in his study, with all the other obligations he didn't want to deal with.

It took more self-control than it should have to not bury his face in his plate.

'Um, G-Guren?'

Oh crap, she'd been talking to him. Smoothing the frown from his face, Guren looked up from his meal and went with what seemed like the safest option: 'Yeah?'

Not safe. Sayuri smiled like he'd answered a question. 'Great! I took the liberty of getting a few things – nothing huge, just… finishing touches. I-'

The phone at her desk started ring. With an apologetic smile, she jumped up, leaving her lunch on his desk.

'You can eat the rest of that,' she threw over her shoulder before closing his office door.

Guren stared at the wooden panelling where she had just been. What the hell had he just agreed to?

After work, he found out that 'nothing huge' meant four bags that Sayuri had to bring into his house one by one because they were so full of crap. From this, he assumed that 'finishing touches' meant effectively redecorating his property.

Sayuri moved around Guren's open plan living area with an aura of purpose. She picked up that morning's coffee mug from the table in front of the sofa, ran her hands along the glass surface and then circled back to the sink. She did not speak until the kettle was boiling.

Her eyes met his in the mirror. 'Have you done anything to prepare for Yuichiro's arrival at all?' It sounded like she was asking if he had done his homework while the evidence pointed towards a resounding no.

'Yeah, I bought extra food and put a lock on my bedroom door.' He left out the trip to the bookshop and the gaudy parenting books that looked completely out of place on his bedside table. She didn't need to know about those.

Her eyebrows rose. She looked at him in disbelief, shook her head, made a noise that sounded like she wanted to say something but had bitten her tongue. The kettle screeched.

'Right,' she said, making coffee for both of them. 'What time is Yuichiro arriving?'

'Six thirty.'

Sayuri stopped stirring the coffee. 'Guren, it's ten past six now!'

Guren took his mug and began to stir it himself. 'Your point?'

'We have twenty minutes to clean this place up. Have you even vacuumed?' She pushed back her hair like she always did when she was flustered.

'I did it last week – it's fine.' Guren shrugged, took a sip of scalding hot coffee and coughed.

Sayuri took it out of his hands. When did she become so bold around him? Stupid question. It was probably around the time he misplaced his crutches and scooched downstairs on his butt in front of her while keeping up a running commentary about how crutches are overrated pieces of shit anyway.

'No, it's not fine. Go get the vacuum cleaner. I'll clean the coffee stains from the table.'

Guren debated arguing with her – because he was her boss; it was his home; it was as clean as it needed to be and damn it he hated vacuuming – but she was already digging through the cupboard under the sink for his cleaning supplies. When she stood, he saw the resolute look on her face and elected to drag the vacuum cleaner from the cupboard under the stairs.

They worked like they did during crunch time at the office only this time, instead of Guren giving orders and Sayuri giving status updates, it was the other way around. While she cleaned surfaces and sorted out what should be where, he vacuumed around and then under (why under was necessary he'd never understand) the furniture and then moved said furniture to wherever she pointed.

Once this task was done, he limped into the kitchen area and downed the coffee he'd been forced to abandon. He then immediately regretted drinking it so quickly when he could have used it as an excuse to lean against the counter longer with most of his weight on his functional right leg.

It didn't matter how many prosthetics he had, how new the one he was wearing was or how comfortably it seemed to fit him. There were certain activities that always seemed to mess with it. And moving furniture was one of them. He knew that the volume of his residual limb changed throughout the day. He knew that was normal. But it was annoying as all hell and damn near impossible to ignore when you were trying to do something active – like move naturally.

Frowning, he shook the limb around a bit. It obviously didn't help. Why he still tried it, he didn't know. He'd need to go sort out his stump socks before the brat got here. How annoying.

Sayuri looked up like she'd had the same idea, 'Go get yourself sorted – and make sure the bathroom is clean. I'll add the finishing touches down here. Be down and ready in five.'

Guren glanced at the clock. There were ten minutes before impact. Plenty of time.

With a quick nod to Sayuri, he took himself up the stairs and into his bedroom. Once on his bed, the prosthetic leg was cast aside. He let it fall onto the floor as he reached for the socks in the top drawer of the bedside cabinet. His current sock was switched for a nude coloured two ply sock. All of his stump socks were nude coloured – as close in colour as he could get to the actual leg.

Some people liked to decorate their artificial limb. Some people saw it like a part of their outfit – like underwear he guessed, necessary but customisable. Guren did not. Guren's missing limb came with a story – a story he wasn't comfortable sharing. He made a mistake. He paid a price. That price was far higher than one leg. He couldn't stand the looks on people's faces when they found out. He wasn't brave. He wasn't inspiring. He did not want pity.

His prosthetic was as close to a real leg in appearance as he could make it. He dressed his fake foot with a new sock on a daily basis, which always matched the sock on his flesh foot. He made sure his trouser legs were long enough to cover all fake flesh at all times. He never wore shorts in public. If he had to adjust his stump socks at work, he claimed to be taking a shit and did it on the toilet. Most of the time, he just put up with it if the damned thing wasn't fitting properly. Sores be damned.

He would do the same thing around Yuichiro, hence the lock on his door. The kid might be his nephew, might be living with him, but that didn't mean he needed to know all of Guren's dirty secrets, or indeed any of his secrets at all. It would be a pain in the ass but needs must.

He sat for a minute on the bed, relishing the relief that came from taking his leg off before reattaching it to the remaining stump below his knee. That done, he stretched his back and stood. Much better.

Deeming the bathroom passable, he returned downstairs a minute later than Sayuri had specified. She did not believe him about the bathroom, took a can of air freshener and went up there herself.

With two minutes to go, they both perched on stools at the breakfast bar to avoid messing up the perfectly plumped cushions on the lounge suite. Sayuri sipped her lukewarm coffee and tapped her nails against the cup. Guren's absent leg stung in time with her tapping. He tensed his knee, rubbed roughly at it as though that might make a difference.

Sayuri laid a hand on his shoulder.

'What?' he said, making eye contact with her in the mirror opposite.

She looked concerned. She was the only one who was allowed to be.

'I hope you intend to be open with Yu about-'

She knew him too well.

'Don't,' he warned her in a low voice.

The doorbell rang. She retracted her hand. Yuichiro had arrived.

An hour or so, another load of forms and a tour of the house later saw them sat around the breakfast bar, Guren with a fountain pen and a coffee-stained notebook and Yuichiro opposite with his own ratty notebook and a pencil. Sayuri was doing something behind Guren on the counter but neither of them were really paying much attention to her. There were more important matters at hand. Like getting through Guren's list of questions before the pizza arrived.

'Favourite food?'

Guren's questions were spoken more like statements, quick fire. He held his pen with its nib suspended just above the page and looked up at Yuichiro with an expression entirely too serious for the subject matter.

'Chicken,' Yuichiro said with such extreme conviction that Guren responded with the kind of serious nod he'd give Goshi after a particularly intense finance discussion.

Guren was already rattling off the next question as he made a note of the answer. 'Favourite colour?'

When he looked up, the kid was staring at Guren's handwriting as though he was being graded on it.

'Red,' he answered. 'Wait no - blue...Um... Anything that's not pink because pink is a girl's colour.'

'Mhmm.' Guren noted this one slowly, just in case the kid changed his mind. 'Favourite-'

'Guren,' Sayuri interrupted, setting a glass of blackcurrant squash in front of the boy. 'Don't drill Yuichiro. You're not in the military.'

Guren could have argued that be that as it may, this was the most effective way of doing things. He had compiled a list of things to know about the kid. This was the fasted way of finding out those things. If they were written down, a list could be consulted and he wouldn't actually have to remember what obscure sweets the kid ate or crap like that. But he didn't.

Instead, he sighed and looked at Yuichiro, who still held his pencil over the top of a blank page. 'Fine. You can ask me anything too, alright kid? Go ahead. Go wild.'

Yuichiro gaze moved behind Guren to Sayuri. When she didn't say anything and instead leaned over Guren to put another glass of squash down, he looked Guren dead in the eye and asked, 'Is she your girlfriend?'

Sayuri, who had just grabbed her own drink, abruptly paused. As she moved to sit down, she smiled and answered, 'N-no, I'm Guren's secretary.'

Yuichiro looked from Sayuri to Guren, head tilted to one side. Tapping his pencil lead to his notebook, he said, 'You're sleeping with your secretary?'

Sayuri choked on her drink. Guren raised his eyebrows.

'No kid, no. Really... no. We go way back, that's all.'

He reached out to pat Sayuri on her back. She mumbled thanks and smiled. Glancing between them, Yuichiro did not look convinced. After a prolonged suspicious look, Guren went with the 'you snooze you lose' rule and broke the awkward silence.

'My turn. You have a girlfriend kid?'

Yuichiro's expression contorted into unimpressed disgust. 'Ew no. Girls are gross and creepy and they giggle. And sometimes they scream and hit you when you try to show them cool stuff. I don't like 'em.'

Guren raised an eyebrow, leaning his elbow on the table. 'Maybe I don't like 'em either.'

Yuichiro's eyes widened. He chucked his pencil onto his notebook, leaned closer over the table and drew an excited breath. 'Is this a "no girls allowed" zo-'

And then he shook his head and paused, sitting back on his stool properly and retrieving his pencil. 'But you want a family though, right?' he said quietly, exaggeratedly drawing a bullet point on his page.

Guren's honest answer? No. He was just fine as he was. He had no intentions of going out, finding a woman and having a baby. He'd though about it once. And never again. There was only one woman for him, one family, and he had lost it.

Sayuri kicked him under the table. She kicked the wrong leg. On any other day, he would have laughed because how long had it been? But he didn't. He turned his head to look at her and she gave him a warning look in response. Yuichiro was still expanding the blob that once a bullet point.

'Well I've got you now, haven't I?' Guren settled for.

Sayuri nodded approvingly and stood. As she headed over to the counter, Yuichiro's pencil stilled. Without lifting it from the page, he looked up at Guren with wide green eyes. His mouth opened, but no words escaped it.

Guren made an effort to smile and said, though it sounded sickening, 'What more family do I need?'

Yuichiro's eyes dropped back to his bullet point. He drew a line next to it but wrote nothing.

Before anything else could be said, Sayuri returned with a plate full of chocolate cake, obviously homemade and iced in red with 'Welcome Home Yuichiro!' She set it directly in front of the boy. The boy stared.

'Here you go,' Sayuri said. 'I know dessert is supposed to come after dinner, but as we're eating dinner late anyway... I suppose it's fine if we just have a small slice now. It's a special day, after all!'

Yuichiro continued to stare at the cake like he didn't know how to respond. Guren inhaled the strong scent of chocolate fudge. Sayuri had really gone all out. Of course, it'd be better if it was apple pie with cinnamon but hey, kids liked cake.

'Um, actually,' he said, closing his notebook and gripping it tightly. 'Can I maybe go unpack my things before the pizza gets here?'

'Oh, of course,' Sayuri answered, before looking to Guren apologetically.

'We'll call you when the food arrives,' was his contribution along with a frown.

Sayuri added, 'I'll make sure Guren doesn't eat any of your cake before you get back.'

Yuichiro had disappeared up the stairs before she'd even finished.

The pizza took 45 minutes to arrive. For about the first time ever, Guren was already at the door waiting for it. The exchange of money for food had never been so efficient. The food was at the breakfast bar before Sayuri had even had a chance to get plates, for Yuichiro's benefit of course – Guren never used a plate for anything that did not specifically require one. Yuichiro's plate sat untouched. Dinner had arrived – the kid had not.

A well-timed yell up the stairs apparently was not enough to signal him. That or he really didn't want pizza.

'Perhaps he has headphones in?' Sayuri suggested. 'We should go and knock, just in case he hasn't heard.'

Guren deflated and reluctantly abandoned his half-eaten and still steaming slice of pizza. Sayuri followed him upstairs.

'Gently,' she reminded him as he raised his hand to knock.

'Tsk.' Did she think he was going to barge in and drag the kid downstairs by the neck?

He knocked lightly. Sayuri nodded. They both edged closer to the door but no signs of life were heard from within.

'Yuichiro?' Sayuri called tentatively.

No reply. They exchanged a glance. Guren made the executive decision to reach for the door handle. When Sayuri made no move to stop him in time, he slowly turned it and opened the door just enough for both of them to see inside.

The room had exploded. There was a pair of trousers over the lamp. Socks littered the floor. All of the drawers in the chest of drawers were open but none of them were full. And in the middle of all this chaos was Yuichiro, curled up on the bed, partly concealed by the lid of his open suitcase.

Guren squinted, leaning closer to get a better look. The boy's face was hidden but the slow rise and fall of his chest made his suitcase lid blanket quiver. So he was at least alive.

Sayuri drew closer. 'Aww,' she said quietly and tugged Guren from the room by the elbow. 'The move must have tuckered him out.'

'Mm,' Guren agreed. Still, something made him feel uneasy – not anything about the kid having fallen asleep – as long has he wasn't dead that wasn't a parenting failure. It was just something about this situation in general, the way the kid had rushed up the stairs the moment 'family' and 'home' had come up. How was he supposed to deal with a problem when he didn't know whether it really was one?

He followed Sayuri downstairs and finished his part of the pizza (and some of Sayuri's) without saying anything.

'You'll have to have the cake for lunch tomorrow,' she said, taking the plates to the sink and beginning the washing up.

'Yeah.' Guren took the pizza box out then lingered next to Sayuri with the tea towel, knowing that as soon as she had cleaned the last glass, she would gather up her things and leave.

For the first time in a good couple of years, Guren found he did not want her to go. Sayuri was warmth. She was like honey in hot milk. She was all smiles and vanilla perfume and putting people at ease. They were as different as the moon was from the sun.

It wasn't that he thought the kid might die in his care or anything. He'd owned a hamster once. He was fairly certain he was at least capable enough as an adult to handle the fundamentals – providing food, clothing and shelter. It was just...

Guren was aware that he wasn't exactly approachable. He liked it that way. He'd spent many years perfecting a resting expression that told people exactly where to go (the fuck away from him). He hated being bothered by unnecessary bullshit.

As soon as he'd signed that last form, he had become Yuichiro's first calling point for all matters of bullshit. This was a problem. In the event of bullshit, it did not seem likely that the kid was going to bring it to him. Sayuri on the hand... She was a part time teacher. She had experience dealing with the kinds of crap that came with being 12. Hell, she had experience of dealing with crap period. (A lot of the time it was his crap, he would sometimes admit.)

'Don't look so concerned,' she said and there it was – Sayuri's teacher voice. 'He'll come around. All this is new to him. Just be nice and don't push too hard.'

He watched her shrug on her coat, slip into her heeled shoes. She didn't stay the night. She didn't promise to drop by tomorrow. He didn't ask her to.

When he was woken in the night by the burning of the foot that wasn't there, he did not settle down to read. He got up, put on his prosthetic and sat at the breakfast bar with some reports – just in case Yuichiro woke up early and wanted something.

He didn't.

 **AN:** Thank you for reading! ^_^

Next chapter will be Yu's and as it's half written, I'm going to say it'll be up by this time next week. I'll try to get it up as quickly as possible to make up for the lack of action in this one. If things go as currently planned, Shinya should be back in chapter 4.

Constructive Criticism is always welcome!

 **Useless Trivia:**

\- Yu mentioned the sleeping with the secretary thing because he watches a lot of TV - and Akane really like soap operas.

\- I know canonically, Yu's favourite food is curry. At the moment it's chicken just because it was the first food Yu thought of to answer Guren quickly. And also, 12 year old Yu in this universe has never eaten Akane's curry. As there are still adults around, she's never had to cook dinner for the group.

\- Guren does own still own a pair of crutches. They're meant to be used when he's having his prosthetic altered. The 'scooching down the stairs on his butt' incident happened while he was getting one of his first prosthetics dealt with. After that incident, he stubbornly threw them into the back of the cupboard under the stairs and has not used them since.

\- When he needs to get downstairs, he either puts on his prosthetic, or hops. This isn't the safest way of doing it, but it's best for his pride.

\- He has fallen down the stairs more times than he'd care to admit.

\- Sayuri actually teaches a class of 8 year olds three days a week and has no experience of teaching anyone over the age of 10.

\- Sayuri and Guren are childhood friends. She used to be his neighbour growing up.


	3. Amane No More

**A/N: I'm so sorry this chapter is later than planned. I stupidly thought I would come back from the party con in the same state I went to it. I didn't. I was wiped out. I also stupidly thought that since the first scene of this chapter came together so quickly, the rest of it would happen that way too. It didn't.**

 **I'm sorry guys - this is another rambling chapter. I've tried to fix it. But short of losing the third section entirely, I couldn't figure out how to. And I wanted to keep it. Please bear with it. I will be trying my hardest to stop future chapters being so wordy.**

 **Once again, I started the next chapter before finishing this one. Next chapter is when the plot really starts to move - and Shinya will probably make a reappearance.**

Uncle Guren was not sleeping with his secretary. It turned out that Uncle Guren was not sleeping with anyone. In fact, Yu wasn't sure Uncle Guren was even sleeping half the time. Whenever Yu went to bed, there he was at the breakfast bar with a pile of papers a pen and a frown. And whenever he woke up, there he was again with another pile of papers, a coffee and a look that said nobody was to speak until he'd finished it.

Uncle Guren looked vaguely pissed off around 70% of the time Yu was around him. It wasn't at Yu – sometimes the man made a conscious effort to smile at him when he noticed the boy staring. It was a shitty smile, and it was often followed by, 'You hungry?' or something like that but it was okay. This whole thing was okay.

Or at least it would be if it wasn't for the others.

'We've found your family.' Those had been the words the social worker – Ms Li, the big one with the poofy hair – had said to him.

Yu had been stunned at first. It wasn't until Mika, who had been on his bed as usual, had hugged him that it had really sunk in.

'Ahh, Yu, that's great news!' Mika sounded happy but his arms were shaking.

Yu had hugged him back so hard neither of them could breathe. For the past four years, Mika had been his family, the first proper family Yu had ever known. He smelled like home.

'This _is_ my family,' Yu had protested as he was told his mother's brother had agreed to take him in, shown pictures of his new 'home'. 'This _is_ my home.'

He was told not to be silly. All children at the Hyakuya Orphanage could be adopted at any time. This family was forever changing. He would make new friends, the social worker told him. He wouldn't and he knew it. Nobody at this new house would ever come close to Mika and Akane. They weren't his friends; they were his family.

They could stay in touch, the social worker told him. It wasn't goodbye.

It sure felt like it.

Reactions varied considerably. Some of the smaller kids cheered because this was Yu's happily ever after. Some were envious. Some were hopeful that it would soon be their turn. Because that was how it worked. You came to the orphanage and you dreamed of the family who would take you away again, make you feel wanted and loved.

It wasn't until you'd been there a while – and Yu had been there for four years, Mika and Akane much longer – that you really understood. You found your own family. You loved each other. You didn't need some stupid mom to cuddle you and kiss your forehead or a dad to pick you up when you fell over and play ball with you, not when you could do all those things for each other.

On Yu's last night at the orphanage, he felt more like a big brother than he ever had before. He fended off questions about his new house, his new school, his new uncle. He looked at all the going away gifts everyone had made him and packed each one away in his suitcase. He managed not to cry when Taichi told him that he didn't want Yu to leave.

When all the other kids had gone to sleep, Akane had hugged him so tightly he thought he might break. His nose tickled. Her hair smelt of the strawberry shampoo her friend at school had given her for her birthday. It was her special thing. She only used it for special days.

Yu made sure to smile at her as she paused in the doorway.

'You'd better stay in touch, you hear?' she said, glancing over her shoulder. Her lips smiled but her eyes were wet.

'Huh? Of course I'm staying in touch. I'll visit too, yeah! And then maybe you guys can come to my house.' He said it all with a grin and an unshakeable will that brought Akane's smile to her eyes.

For a moment, he believed it too. And then Akane disappeared down the hall and she took the sunshine with her. Looking over at Mika, he felt suddenly eight years old again and new to the orphanage, looking for someone to make it all right.

Just as he had on the day Yu arrived, Mika smiled. But his smile didn't reach his eyes either.

Yu ignored his bed and his suitcase and the clothes laid out ready for tomorrow, for the 'Big Day' as all the staff were calling it. It was big alright. Big, bleak and empty. He shook the idea away, climbed into Mika's bed beside him and rolled over so that Mika couldn't see his face.

Mika was sitting up, reading some book about hot air balloons. He had a thing for hot air balloons, had always said as a kid that maybe someday they'd all fly away in one, travel the world and make home the nicest place they saw on their journey. Yu heard him turn the page.

'Hey,' Mika said and Yu made a non-committal noise to indicate he was listening. 'Make sure you leave your address. If not, it's gonna be really hard to find you from my hot air balloon – and you can't skip out on the Hyakuya Family Round-the-World Trip.'

Yu rolled back over, stared at Mika. 'Ha, you're still talking about that?'

'Mmhmm!' Mika smiled. 'Okay, between you and me, doing it in a hot balloon is probably not going to happen. I'm now thinking maybe a cruise. But if I hit it big, it'll be private jet all the way. What do you say?'

In spite of himself, Yu grinned. 'Hit it big doing what?'

Mika shrugged. 'I don't know – work?' He flicked to the back of his book, where the author bios were. 'Hey, maybe I'll write a book.'

'You read enough of 'em,' Yu commented distastefully, and shifted in the bed to rest his chin by Mika's elbow.

'Just because you don't read, Yu,' Mika replied, closing his book on his lap and resting his hands on it. 'You should really read more, you know?'

'Don't need to.' Yu smirked. 'TV is better.'

'Easier maybe. Definitely not better.'

Yu did not need to see Mika's face to imagine the expression on it. He prepared himself to hear the usual talk about how there was so much more in books than there was in the films they made out of them. Harry Potter was most often Mika's weapon of choice. Yu still hadn't read it, didn't intend to either. Mika loved it.

But Mika didn't say it. And the unusual silence reminded Yu that they might never have this before bed argument again.

To break the silence, Yu quickly said. 'I'll read your book, when you write it.'

Mika turned the book over in his hands. 'Well now I have to write one.'

Silence fell again.

'Hey.' Mika broke it. 'You've gotta promise me you'll have fun at your new house. Make loads of friends, go out and stuff. Keep a diary – you're living quite a way away so it'll be a while before I get to see you again – I wanna hear everything too. Oh, and you need to write letters. I'll write back to you – well we'll all write back to you so just... have fun, okay?'

Yu sat up, sat very still and very straight. Mika smiled, eyes closed, head tilted to one side like it always did whenever he pretended something was okay when it wasn't. It worked on most of the kids, but not Akane and Yu, never them. Had it been any of the others, Yu would have promised all of those things. But it wasn't; it was Mika and it felt like it shouldn't be.

Biting his lip, Yu lent his forehead against Mika's shoulder and said something stupid and wrong because it wasn't Yu's job to dream; it was Mika's. Mika dreamed and planned and read. And the closest Yu got to independent foresight and planning was threatening to beat someone up if they dared keep looking at his family like that. But it was all wrong – everything was wrong. It was supposed to be Mika who got adopted and not Yu, because Mika was the smart one. No, they were supposed to be adopted together and Yu guessed that was what made him say it.

'Maybe my uncle will want another kid and he can adopt you too. Yeah, I'll ask him. And then we'll have the same last name and we can be proper family and-'

'We'll always be proper family.' Mika's voice was muffled. 'No matter where we're living.'

'Yeah, always,' Yu promised, enveloping Mika in a hug.

Uncle Guren did not want another kid. He'd said it when Yu had moved in 3 days ago. Not in so many words but it was obvious that's what he'd meant. Snooping around the house this weekend only confirmed it. Uncle Guren's house was big but empty – and downright dull.

He had a TV with all the channels. He let Yu watch whatever he wanted pretty much whenever he wanted to – for this weekend at least. That was awesome and Yu hoped it would continue. He also had a 'whatever you want' policy on the snacks. But he didn't really have anything else. There were no games, no comics, nothing but food and TV and bed.

Yu tried to think back to what he used to do at the orphanage but... that much was obvious. He hung out with Mika, Akane and the others. He _always_ hung out with Mika. Sure his Uncle talked to him sometimes – between them they had made two lists of each other's likes, dislikes, birthdays etc. But he wasn't them. He wasn't the family Yu had chosen.

'Oi, brat! Ass downstairs – school!'

Yu flinched then groaned and rolled over. His new uniform sat untouched on the chair at his new desk. It was still wrapped in the plastic it had left the school store in. Yu had heard Sayuri telling Uncle Guren to take it out and wash it over the phone, but his uncle obviously hadn't. He was going to smell like plastic.

'Hey, you hear me?'

His Uncle's voice was getting louder. There were footsteps on the stairs. Yu reached for his pillow to bury his face in it. The door was flung open. Yu jolted upright.

'Oh, you're awake.' Uncle Guren barely spared him a glance before picking his way over to the window.

Yu shielded his face as the curtains were thrown open.

'You alive?' his uncle asked.

'No,' he muttered, sinking back into his pillow and turning his back on the offending sunlight.

'Come on, get dressed. We can't be late on your first day of school.'

A bag of crap hit Yu in the back. He lifted his head to see what it was. It was the uniform.

Uncle Guren suddenly swore. 'I was meant to wash this, wasn't I? Damn it. Well, it's clean from the shop, right?'

Yu rolled over in time to watch his uncle retrieve the uniform and rip the packaging on it. Letting the plastic fall to the floor, Uncle Guren held it between his finger and thumb, brought it to his face and gave it a good sniff.

Wrinkling his nose, he disappeared through the open door and left without closing it – just like Akane used to. Annoying. Yu threw back his covers and crawled to the end of the bed, from which he could maybe just about reach to close it.

But Uncle Guren came back, blasted Yu's blazer with deodorant and chucked it at him.

Balancing on the end of the bed, Yu failed to catch it and it draped itself over his head. It no longer smelled of plastic, but whatever it did smell of, it was chokingly strong. He held his breath until he was safely back onto his knees with the blazer in his hands.

'Better?' Uncle Guren asked, poised to also spray the trousers.

Yu turned it over in his hands. 'It's a bit creased but I don't really care.'

Uncle Guren snatched it from his hands and threw the trousers over his shoulder. 'Get dressed in what you have and come downstairs,' he yelled behind him as he disappeared through the door.

Yu supposed he had no choice. Feeling like he was bogged down with mud, he sluggishly pulled on the rest of the uniform until he reached the tie hanging over the back of the chair. His hand hovered over it without touching.

'Yuichiro, are you ready?'

Mika always tied his ties. Yu had never learnt how to. His own father had been a waste of space who would sooner strangle him with a tie than help him tie it and who couldn't even afford – or just didn't care enough to afford – his full school uniform. And that was only when he went. His mother had moved them around so much that he never really bothered about school or uniforms anyway.

Yu hadn't asked where Mika had learnt to tie ties. Nobody ever asked about anyone's family at the orphanage. They were each other's family – that was enough. But Mika did everyone's ties. He'd tried to teach Yu once but it had ended up being a tie fight, which had turned into a pillow fight, which had turned into the director being mad and the two of them having to run to school because they were late. At the time, Yu hadn't regretted any of it. Now he wished he'd paid attention.

'Yuichiro!'

Yu picked up the tie and stuffed it in his pocket. 'Yeah, I'm coming.'

Uncle Guren stood by the toaster with Yu's blazer draped over the breakfast bar behind him. He motioned for Yu to take it. 'Where's your tie?'

Yu took the blazer and shrugged it on, avoiding his uncle's eyes. 'In my pocket.'

Uncle Guren raised one eyebrow. 'It goes around your neck.'

Yu fidgeted. 'Yeah well... do I have to wear it?'

'Yes,' his uncle answered firmly, turning back to the toaster and cursing under his breath when the toast that came out of it was hot.

Yu dug the tie from his pocket, looped it around his neck and loosely tied it in a knot. It looked nothing like a tie should look. Uncle Guren reached for the cutlery drawer and paused, eyes on the poor excuse for a tie.

'C'mere,' he said, and Yu shuffled a small step forwards.

He lifted his head as Uncle Guren's fingers fumbled under his chin.

'Damn it... fucking.'

Yu looked down his nose at his uncle's expression of irritated concentration.

'Can't you tie a tie either?'

Uncle Guren gave the tie a sharp tug. 'Don't talk.'

'Kay.'

A couple of minutes and two near misses at accidentally hitting Yu in the chin later, Uncle Guren pulled the tie from Yu's neck and handed him the knife from the sideboard.

'Right this isn't working. Butter your toast. I'll tie your tie on me and then we'll slip it over your head. If we leave in the next five minutes we can still be on time.'

After Uncle Guren had made him eat his toast in the car, taken two so-called short cuts, run three red lights and thoroughly broken the speed limit at least once, they were still late. This suited Yu better anyway – now he didn't have to deal with people staring at the newbie as he was escorted through the front door by an even more pissed off than usual uncle.

He dawdled a few paces behind Uncle Guren as they moved through the car park.

His uncle turned around sharply, 'Yuichiro, come on – school started fifteen minutes ago.'

Yu scuffed the tip of his shoe against the curb.

Uncle Guren sighed and stopped walking. 'Alright, what's your problem?'

'Huh?' Yu looked up from his feet, startled. The moment he took in his uncle's expression, he looked immediately back down again.

'Your problem,' Uncle Guren prompted, tapping his foot impatiently. 'You scared or something?'

Yu's head shot up. 'What? No! I'm not some little kid!'

Uncle Guren raised his eyebrows. 'Right, riiiight.'

'I'm not!' Yu insisted, taking a step closer to his uncle – a step that was meant to show that he was serious, that he wasn't scared and that he'd fight him on this, just see if he wouldn't.

Uncle Guren threw back his head and laughed.

Yu made a swing that was meant to give Uncle Guren a dead arm. Uncle Guren caught it and patted his head.

'Okay, okay, sure, kid. But if you're not scared, what is your problem?'

Yu, who had been glowering furiously at his uncle, scowled and looked away. School. School was his problem. Specifically this school and being new to it, and it not containing Mika.

Sure, he wasn't exactly new to the whole 'changing schools after the year had already started' thing. Before the orphanage, his mother had moved them on so much it felt like Yu was never not new when he was in school. And while that meant he knew what it was like to have everyone looking at you and asking questions, it didn't mean it was any better the billionth time around than it was the first.

And besides, whenever his mother made him move, it was obvious they were gonna move again soon and so Yu didn't care who liked him and who didn't – and they all thought he was weird anyway – and it was even worse when his father's reputation had gotten to them first.

But the last time around, it had been okay because Mika was in his class and Mika was already his friend so if Yu didn't have any others it didn't matter. But everyone liked Mika and if Mika liked Yu then the other kids soon learnt that he wasn't that bad. Mostly.

'Well?' Uncle Guren was still waiting for an answer.

Yu looked up at him. He looked smug, like he knew Yu might have been... not scared because that was too strong but... what was the word Mika used? Apprehensive? Yeah that.

'I just... don't wanna go, okay?' Yu snapped and brushed past the annoying adult.

He took it back. He took it all back. Uncle Guren wasn't okay at all. He was snarky bastard and it was probably his mission in life to take the piss out of Yu as much as possible to make up for having to take him in – not that he'd wanted to take Yu in anyway.

'Yuichiro,' Uncle Guren called and sounded... kinda serious but not pissed off.

Yu kept walking. Uncle Guren grabbed his arm.

'Look at me.'

Yu looked. Yu glared. Uncle Guren didn't let go of his arm, just made a pained kinda expression and brushed his hair back with his free hand.

'Look, you'll be okay,' he said. 'School sucks – sucks to be you – tough luck – suck it up – you'll be fine.'

Yu stared at his uncle incredulously. Was he trying to make him feel better about this or...?

'Look, my point is, don't worry about it. Go kick ass – uh, metaphorical ass – try not to kick any actual ass. Just introduce yourself, try not to be an insufferable little brat and you'll be okay, right?'

Weirdly watching his uncle's frown get deeper as he tried to string words together did actually appease the angry butterflies in Yu's stomach. As though he could take the awkwardness no longer, Uncle Guren pulled at Yu's arm and started walking, releasing him.

Yu followed, noticing that his uncle's cheek's were slightly pink. Maybe it was okay then to...

'Hey, Uncle Guren?'

'Just Guren, kid. Uncle sounds stuffy,' his uncle answered without turning his head.

Yu almost lost his nerve. If his uncle didn't want him calling him Uncle in public then it was hardly a good sign for what he was about to ask. Something that might have been hope sank into the pit of his stomach. He reminded himself again that it wasn't like his uncle had wanted a family anyway.

But still, he had to ask. The closer they got to the doorway with 'Reception' printed over it, the heavier Yu's legs became, and the sicker he started to feel. With no Mika, it felt just like all those other times he'd had to start again. Except this time, his mother wasn't there promising that this would be a fresh start for them, that this was his forever school.

'Play nice,' she'd say.

Uncle Guren had just told him to kick butt. They weren't the same but still... still, Yu couldn't shake the feeling that nothing had changed.

Uncle Guren was looking over his shoulder expectantly. Yu swallowed and said, 'What's my surname now? Ms Li said you were adopting me so...'

'The same as it was before,' Guren answered with a loose shrug. 'I figured you'd want to choose your own name.'

'I don't want it-' Yu blurted out and quickly regretted it as his uncle stopped walking and gave him a questioning look.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. And then Uncle Guren raised his eyebrows and it was obvious that Yu was going to have to finish the conversation he'd started. His heart thumped somewhere between his ears.

'Amane is my dad's name,' he said gripping the sleeves of his blazer tightly. 'If this is meant to be a fresh start-' Crap he'd used the same words as his mother. It really was happening all over again. '-could I – is there a way I could just... not have it?'

He made the mistake of looking up. Uncle Guren was watching him intensely. 'You want to take my – your mother's maiden name?' he said as if confirming it himself.

He didn't. He wanted the same surname that Mika wanted – that all the kids secretly used, the name of the orphanage, of their little family. He was, as far as he was concerned, Yuichiro Hyakuya. But if his mother's family's name was going, he'd take it. He'd take anything.

'Y-yeah,' Yu replied and felt like he was asking for the moon, or like his mother was going to jump out at any moment and start yelling about blasphemy and being an ungrateful little wretch.

Uncle Guren nodded slowly. 'Alright, I'll see what I can do about the paperwork at the weekend.'

Yu's elation quickly turned to desperation.

'N-no, I...' he fidgeted. His uncle's eyes never lifted from his face. 'I don't want to be introduced as Yuichiro Amane today. I don't want anyone to use that name.'

He looked up at his uncle then, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks. He met Guren's gaze and hoped his uncle could see that he was serious.

Uncle Guren's eyebrows had lifted. His mouth opened slightly and for a brief moment, no sound came out. Yuichiro watched his uncle's lips move in what felt like slow motion, waiting for them to form a 'no'. They never did.

Instead he sighed, lifted a hand to push back his hair and, holding it there, said, 'Ahhh, what have I gotten myself into? Fine, fine. I'll talk to your teachers today, tell them something about paperwork being delayed – I'm sure they'll understand.' Letting his hand drop back from his shoulder, his eyes met Yu's and he added, 'That it? You good now?'

For a moment, Yu simply stared. And then he waited. Waited for his uncle to change his mind. Waited to be taken to live with someone else. Waited for his father to appear behind him and drag him by the neck to yet another school. Because it wasn't meant to be this easy, he was sure.

Was it?

'Yuichiro? We're still late, you know.'

Yu's face betrayed him. He grinned up at his uncle like they were really family – the proper kind, not the blood kind. When the man shrugged his shoulders and held the door into reception for him, Yu took a breath and remembered the words Mika had left him with.

' _Have fun, okay?'_

Fun... Maybe that was a bit of an overstatement but maybe, just maybe, this time around it wouldn't be so bad.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! ^_^ Comments and constructive criticism are as always greatly appreciated! I will take any comments on board - especially about the length and perspectives. I have been tempted to alter this story from one perspective per chapter to multiple sections, each with a different point of view. I wondered if it might save chapters that do a bit of retelling like this one from being quite as dull.**

 **Chapter 3's Useless Trivia:**

 **\- Guren uses Old Spice, but he also owns a can of Lynx that he keeps purely because Sayuri hates it. He keeps it under the sink.**

 **\- Little Mika originally wanted to be an inventor.**

 **\- Yu wanted to be an explorer - specifically a jungle explorer. He wanted to see the lions. Nobody had the heart to tell him that the rainforest wasn't the best place for that. He also liked orangutans and wanted one as a pet.**


End file.
